Recipe#10470

Title: Chinese 01

Newsgroups: rec.food.recipes 
 From: marple@cs.ubc.ca (Kirk Marple) 
 Subject: Steamed Dumplings 
 Message-ID: <2462enINNa7i@cascade.cs.ubc.ca> 
 Date: 9 Aug 1993 10:44:55 -0700 

Chinese Silver Loaves (dough for outside of dumpling)
 1 3/4 cups hot water
 3 T. sugar
 2 T. vegetable shortening or oil
 6 cups all-purpose (plain) flour  
 2 T. baking powder
 1/2 tsp. salt
 Add sugar and shortening to hot water, stir til sugar is dissolved,
 and allow to cool until barely warm.
 Sift remaining dry ingredients into a large mixing bowl, and
 gradually stir in sugar mixture. Mix well and gradually draw dough
 together with your hands. It should be soft, but not sticky.
 On a floured board, knead dough about 5-8 minutes, or til smooth
 and elastic.
 Return to bowl, cover with damp cloth and let rise at least 1 hour.
 Roast Pork Filling
 makes 24 buns
 1 T. sugar
 1 1/2 T. soy sauce
 1 T. oyster sauce
 1/2 cup chicken stock
 1 tsp. sesame oil
 1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
 1 drop red food colouring (optional)
 1 T. vegetable oil
 3/4 lb. diced roast pork (recipe: 3 lbs. pork sirloin cut into 2 inch strips,
        marinated in: 2 T. sherry, 2 T. sugar, 1/4 cup soy sauce, 3 T.
        hoisin sauce, 1/4 tsp. red food colouring, marinate 4-5 hrs in
        fridge, bake 1 hour at 325, brushing with honey three times, let cool
        20 min. then dice for dumpling recipe)
 1/2 inch piece fresh ginger, minced
 1 large or 2 small spring onions, chopped
 1 T. cornstarch
 2 T. water
 1 recipe Silver Loaves
 Mix together sugar, soy sauce, oyster sauce, chicken stock, sesame
 oil, black pepper and red food colouring. Set aside.
 Stir-fry the pork, ginger, and spring onions in the vegetable oil
 for 2 min.  Pour in the seasoning mixture and stir for another
 minute. Stir the cornstarch into the water and pour into wok.
 Continue to cook, stirring, until the sauce is like thick custard.
 Remove from heat.
 Knead the Silver Loaves dough for 3 minutes. Cover and let sit 10
 minutes.  Divide into 24 pieces and cover again with the cloth.
 Pat each piece of dough into a 4 inch in diameter circle. Place a
 teaspoon of pork filling in centre and pleat edges of circle all
 the way around.  Bring edges up over filling, finally pinching the
 pleats together firmly at the centre top. Set aside for 10 minutes.
 Place each bun on a piece of wax (greaseproof) paper, and steam
 with 1/2 inch of space between them, for 12 minutes. Do not open
 the steamer while cooking or else the characteristic splitting of
 the top of the bun will not take place.
 Shrimp and Vegetable Filling
 1 T. vegetable oil
 2 cloves garlic, minced
 1 spring onion, finely chopped
 3/4 lb. chinese cabbage, chopped, blanched in boiling water for 1 min,
      drained and squeezed dry in paper towels
 1/4 cup cooked baby shrimp, minced
 1 tsp. sugar
 1 tsp. soy sauce
 1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
 1 tsp. sesame oil
 1 tsp. cornstarch
 1 T. water
 Heat the oil in a wok, fry garlic and spring onion til garlic is
 a light golden colour. Stir in cabbage and shrimp, and cook one
 more minute. Add sugar, soy sauce, pepper and sesame oil, stir,
 then add cornstarch mixed with water. Stir again. The mixture should
 thicken immediately. Fill buns as with above recipe.
 Sweet Red Bean Paste Filling
 1 1/2 cups red beans, washed well
 4 cups water
 1/2 cup vegetable shortening
 1 cup sugar
 Sweet red bean paste can be bought in the store, and used straight
 from the can for filling, but this is how to make it from scratch.
 Place the beans and water in a saucepan, cover, bring to boil over
 medium high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook for 1 1/2
 hours, or til beans are very soft.
 Strain the water from the beans, and blend them into a puree in a
 blender or food processor.
 Press the puree through a sieve, discarding the skins, which will
 be left in the sieve.
 Place the puree in several layers of cheesecloth, and gently squeeze
 to remove excess moisture.
 Place the thickened puree back into the saucepan, together with
 the sugar and vegetable shortening, and heat over low heat, stirring
 until it becomes a thick paste. Stir and scrape vigourously so that
 it does not stick to the bottom.
 Remove from heat and let cool before filling buns.